The Wait is Over!

After a tiring and emotional day we are back in our hotel room with a sleeping baby!  Our final meeting with Titus' foster mom was a bit of a whirlwind - finding out all about his eating, sleeping, etc., getting instructions on leaving the country, saying good-bye - all this done in just half an hour!  It turns out that Titus was her 50th foster child so she has done this many times, but there were still wet eyes as we said good-bye and expressed our gratitude.  What a dear woman and what a sweet gift of love she has given to our family!  We are very grateful that he only had two short crying episodes after leaving her. We'll see what happens in the morning when he wakes up to our faces!   

This video is a bit long, but we had the grandparents in mind! :)

Our Son!

Today we met our son for the first time!  It was the end of a very long wait and the beginning of a new relationship.  What an incredible day!

Safe in Seoul

Saying good-bye to our sweet girls

We miss them already!

The best airplane food we've ever had - our favorite Korean dish, Bibimbap!  After eleven hours in the air we arrived safely in Korea.

Our first day in Seoul with our personal tour guide - a very sweet college student who took us all over the city.  

Gyeongbokgung Palace built in 1395 

Insadong Street

A delicious Korean meal

We are so grateful to be here and cannot believe that we will be meeting our son tomorrow!  Check back for pictures! 

Six Days from Seoul!!!

On Friday, July 31st we will be on a plane bound for Seoul, South Korea!!!  We are still in shock from the phone call that came Thursday morning informing us that our son is ready for travel! We aren't sure why things changed so quickly, but we aren't complaining.  Our tickets have been purchased and we are thanking God for this wonderful answer to prayer!  We will meet Titus for the first time on Monday, August 3rd so check back for pictures and videos!  Please pray for safe travel, health (especially for Titus), and a smooth transition for our precious baby boy.   

The Wait Continues

After being told that we would very likely be getting our travel call by last week, we received the disappointing news that we are actually fifth on the list of families who are waiting for their babies to get passports and visas.  And given that things run at a slower pace in Korea during the summer months, we now have no idea how long it will be before we receive travel news.  Our little Titus will be nine months old on Tuesday and is now pulling himself up to standing which makes the waiting even more painful.  But we are so grateful that God has placed this precious boy in our hearts and we know that He will add him to our family at His chosen time.  Please keep praying!! 

On a lighter note, here are a few pictures of our sweet girls from our family camping trip over the 4th of July weekend.  There were almost 70 members of Ronn's extended family gathered for a wonderful reunion.  The girls thoroughly enjoyed every minute of playing with cousins, building sand castles, swimming, riding bikes, taking walks, watching fireworks, sitting around the campfire, eating smores, staying up late, and of course, getting VERY dirty!  I think we are still finding camping dirt at bath time! :)    

Room Restored, No Plane to Board

After mudding and sanding the terribly damaged walls and applying layers of primer and paint over a lovely shade of pink we have restored our century old office to it's original state!  This project also gave us an excuse to purge the contents within so we are enjoying a new and far less cluttered space to read, write, peruse the internet, and engage in stimulating conversation after our children are in bed.  And just maybe we will be motivated to reinstate an exercise routine on the bike sitting in the newly painted corner. :)  Once we renovate both of the bathrooms we will have redone EVERY room in our ten room house!!  

We derive great satisfaction (too much, perhaps?) from removing years of old paint and revealing the fine hardware beneath.  How could anyone paint over such a great looking piece of metal? :) 

 

Now for the news you're really curious about... according to the timeline we were recently given we should be getting our travel call this week!  Our bags are packed and we are more than ready to meet our precious son, but given the fairly high probability for disappointment, we are trying not to get our hopes up too high.  Please pray that we will get the call this week, but if we don't, please pray that we will be able to be patient and rest in God's plan.  By the way, you are all invited to meet us at the airport if you'd like to be a part of welcoming Titus to our family and to the United States!  We will be sure to let you know when to show up.    

P.S. Family Camp-out pictures are forthcoming.

Home Improvement Project?!

"Why the picture of Ronn working in a pink room?" you ask!  Our pink office has been on our list of needed renovations since purchasing our home FIVE years ago and one thing after another has prevented it from happening.  Well... a couple weeks ago (sorry we're a little late in posting) we found out that our trip to Korea is very likely not going to happen in June.  It seems that the Korean government is a bit less efficient than the U.S. government so now that things are in their hands we have reached a stand still.  Our best case scenario for travel may be mid-July and our worst case scenario may be early August.  So with this in mind, we decided that a home improvement project would be a productive way to keep ourselves occupied as we wait. We would, again, ask you to keep us and our precious Titus in your prayers as we trust God with this disappointment.  Even in our disappointment He is good and His plan is perfect.